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Butte College men’s soccer playing in first CCCAA Final Four in program history Friday

Roadrunners enter Friday having won eight of their last nine games

Marco Ardunio (6), dribbles the ball up field as Gustav Lading, left, and Diego Cannone (27) on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024 at Butte College in Butte Valley, California. (Tyler Brosnan/Contributed)
Marco Ardunio (6), dribbles the ball up field as Gustav Lading, left, and Diego Cannone (27) on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024 at Butte College in Butte Valley, California. (Tyler Brosnan/Contributed)
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SACRAMENTO — After a slow start and a season filled with trials, unexpected adversity and injuries, the Butte College men’s soccer team has made it further than any other in program history. The Roadrunners (17-4-4) are now healthy and playing their best at the right time, and have won six straight games.

Butte, the No. 14 seed in the California Community College Athletic Association NorCal playoffs, has won four straight playoff games (two via shutout) and now faces Long Beach City College (19-3-3) in the CCCAA men’s soccer semifinals at 1 p.m. Friday at American River College in Sacramento, with the winner advancing to the CCCAA championship on Sunday.

“They’re an extremely disciplined team on defense, they have a very electric right wing, their left back is good,” said Butte coach Ross Sandberg when asked about Long Beach. “They’ve beat some good teams. Long Beach had an exceptional year, they’re well coached, and it’s going to take a complete game from us both offensively and defensively.

“We need to be completely locked in, we’re going to have to capitalize on our four or five chances, as well as play very good team defense. We can’t overcommit, because if we overcommit it creates off balance defense and a team like that will exploit that very quickly.”

Sandberg also commented on his own team and its play as of late, saying, “We’re playing very quick, we’re playing very technical, and our defense is really holding it down. They’re buying into how we want to play, playing extremely unselfish, never giving up and working very hard when you don’t have the ball. We were very much a ball possession team, and in order to be an effective ball possession team guys have to move when they don’t have the ball. Guys know their moment is going to come and they really ben ruthless when their chances do come.”

Forward Lenny Dupouyet leads the Roadrunners with 22 goals and 14 assists, but 18 people on the Roadrunners’ 25-person roster have scored at least one goal.

The Roadrunners defeated American River, De Anza, Fresno and Skyline to earn their spot in the CCCAA Final Four, marking the first time a Butte College men’s soccer team has made it this far. Against Fresno the Roadrunners were down 2-0 after 12 minutes, but came back to win 3-2. Sandberg said his team must play sharp from the start, and that Long Beach will quickly exploit any weaknesses.

“Even in some of our games we’ve made some mistakes, we make those mistakes against Long Beach they’ll probably capitalize on them and score,” Sandberg said. “As you get further along, everyone is here for a reason, and that’s because they’re playing the best right now. They survived in the playoffs, but everyone’s here for a reason.”

Sandberg said the biggest strength of this year’s team is the mental toughness. From an injury that left one of the Roadrunners’ leading attackers (Estefano Garcia, a Pleasant Valley High School alumnus, out for 12 of the Roadrunners’ 25 games), to busses breaking down in the 100+ degree heat, to being forced to play behind on many different occasions and coming back, the resilience of this year’s group has been special. They’ve embraced traveling in vans, embraced playing from behind, entered the playoffs as the No. 14 seed and had upsets in three of their four games, and now enter Friday facing off against the No. 1 team in the south. Their one “home” playoff game was forced to be played at Harrison Stadium in Oroville because the Roadrunners’ grass field was unable to be played on due to the rain.

“Out of all the teams I’ve had, and we’ve been 21-1-1, 19-2-1, 16-3-3 lost as home seed in the playoffs, but this has been the most mentally strong team I’ve had probably ever,” Sandberg said. “I’ve had teams more technically sound, but their mental resiliency has been second to none because of what we’ve had to go through.”

The Roadrunners have 11 returners from last season, two returning from 2022 who didn’t play last season due to grades or injury, but just two players (Garcia and captain Elias Stingl) have postseason experience from 2022. The Roadrunners have three players with ties to the North State, including starting goalkeeper Manny Diaz from Chico High School, Garcia from Pleasant Valley High School and Julian Alvarez from Orland High School.

“They know this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. This has been an unbelievable ride with these guys, especially with everything we’ve had to overcome,” Sandberg said. “These last two weeks have been exhausting, but amazing. Watching them smile and the joy that they get out of this thinking one more practice, one more game together, it’s been amazing. It’s something you don’t want to end. As tired as we all are, in life you get very few chances to say you’re the best at anything, and when you get those chances you have to capitalize on it.”

Sandberg continued by saying, “Years from now you don’t want to say I should’ve, we could’ve or we would’ve. The world is filled with people who say should’ve, could’ve, would’ve all the time. This is our opportunity to not have to say that for the rest of our lives.”

How to watch

Admission for Friday and Sunday’s games is $12 for adult general admission, $8 for high school and college students with a valid school issued ID, $8 for children ages 11-and-younger and $8 for senior citizens age 60-and-older.

Tickets for Friday can be purchased at https://cccaa.hometownticketing.com/embed/event/206?es=9nu33dv48hl0sme22mr1ku0g3k&single=1 and Sunday’s game at https://cccaa.hometownticketing.com/embed/event/207?es=9nu33dv48hl0sme22mr1ku0g3k&single=1.

For those unable to attend in person, streaming is available at https://baosn.tv. The cost to stream is $12 per day.

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